This week, a Kentucky man who killed three pupils and injured five others in a school shooting 25 years ago will be considered for parole.
Michael Carneal was a 14-year-old student at Heath High School near Paducah, Kentucky, when he shot a stolen revolver at a prayer group in the school’s lobby in 1997. He was given a life sentence with parole eligibility after 25 years, the maximum permissible at the time for someone his age.
In one of the few interviews he has granted since then, he told the Courier Journal of Kentucky in 2002: “I considered my life to be awful. Nobody cared about me and nobody loved me.”
Carneal expressed regret for his actions and said that he was only concerned with himself at the moment, not the people he would damage and kill. According to him, there is no clear explanation for why he lashed out, but at the time he was suffering from delusions and paranoia. According to him, the psychotherapy and drugs he got in prison normalized his mental health. “It seems strange to say, but I am not a particularly violent guy,” he continued.
Michael Carneal is escorted out of the McCracken County Courthouse in Paducah, Kentucky, after his arraignment on Thursday, January 15, 1998. Sam Upshaw Jr. for AP Photo/Courier Journal
Carneal, who is now 39 years old, did not respond to a recent interview request from The Associated Press.
On Monday, the parole hearing for Carneal is slated to begin with testimony from individuals injured in the incident and close relatives of those killed. Carneal will argue for his release from the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange on Tuesday. If the board rules against Carneal, they can decide how long he must wait before his next parole hearing.
14-year-old Nicole Hadley, 17-year-old Jessica James, and 15-year-old Kayce Steger were killed in the incident. Missy Jenkins Smith, who is disabled and needs a wheelchair, is among the injured. In 2007, she encountered Carneal in prison and had a lengthy talk with him. He expressed regret to her, and she stated that she had forgiven him.
Missy Jenkins Smith, who was paralyzed in the 1997 Heath High School shootings, and Kelly Hard Alsip, who was also shot, speak to reporters on Thursday, September 11, 2008, in Louisville, Kentucky, after lawyers argued before the Kentucky Supreme Court that Michael Carneal was too mentally ill to plead guilty to the shootings. Ed Reinke
“Many people believe it absolves him of consequences, but I disagree,” she added, adding that she opposes his release from prison. She is concerned that he is unprepared for life outside of prison and could continue to harm others. She also believes it would be unjust for him to walk free while those he wounded continue to suffer.
Daniel Boaz, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the region that encompasses Paducah, opposed Carneal’s release in a letter to the Kentucky Parole Board dated September 9.
Boaz noted, “I observed and watched the immediate impact of Michael Carneal’s acts on December 1, 1997, and I have suffered with the effects of his actions ever since.”
The sorrow suffered by the relatives of the murdered children “cannot be expressed in words,” he added. While putting Carneal in prison for the remainder of his life may seem like a severe punishment, it pales in comparison to what these families endure.